FAQ

As of May 2016, the BitBet website is under new management: the previous
owners decided to auction it off because of internal disagreements.

Before the auction began, the site was frozen:
- new contracts could not be created
- betting on existing contracts was not possible
- comments were however still allowed

Then, the following happened:
- detailed accounting of assets and liabilities was conducted
- contracts that were closed at the time of the auction were properly paid out
- contracts that were still open were cancelled and all bets were refunded
- all other creditors were paid in full
- the final settlement transaction can be seen here:a0f12a33413ec3a38e3ae931068febec133b083d72810fc586a8b1c5f0d7922a

Nothing has changed except for the operators of the site. The site
operates exactly as before, and the policies remain identical.

One thing to be aware of: the contracts that were cancelled because of the
transition are still visible on the site and have all been resolved as "NO".

While this may feel inconsistent (the proper resolution should be "CANCELED & REFUNDED"),
there is a limitation in the current design of the system that prevents us from doing
anything else. In practice, this has no material impact as all bets placed on these
contracts have been refunded.

We do plan to eventually bring a number of improvements to the site, most notably
we would like to make it more mobile friendly. We are also exploring the idea of
anonymous user accounts to minimize Bitcoin transaction fees and prevent "TX snooping"
from unsavory exchanges and online wallet operators.

Also, and in slightly less pleasant news, as of August 1st 2016, the BitBet fee
has been increased to 2% to better cover infrastructure costs. Please note that
this new fee only applies to bets placed *after* July 31st 23:59 GMT. The fee on
bets that were placed before August 1st 2016 will still be 1%.

We will try our absolute best to operate the site with the same
integrity and reliability as the previous operators.

That being stated, we do understand that at the time of this writing
(May 2016), this statement has very little value, as the new BitBet
management team has yet to earn the trust of its users.

Given the nature of the site, the only way we know how to build this trust
is over time, via scrupulous management of the site and its security,
detailed and irreprochable keeping of the books, and a strict adherence
to principles of integrity and fairness.

As a place to start, the BitBet management team's identity can be
verified using the GPG key with fingerprint 0xECD7837E31974995

While we will not GPG sign every message sent by BitBet, we invite
our users to request such signature any time there is a doubt as to
the authenticity of a BitBet message.

Finally, we invite our users to initially bet small amounts, thereby
increasingly making sure that the BitBet management team is competent
and trustworthy. We are not in a hurry and plan to take as long as
needed to establish our reputation and earn the trust of our users.

Update, Aug. 7th 2016: the new operators have now been operating this
site for 3 months, and not a single satoshi of our customer's money has
been either lost or at any time at risk. All winnings have been paid out
scrupulously and all user funds are kept in a cold wallet that lives on
a system that is never connected to the internet.

. Simply click on the contract that interests you, then click "Bet".
. You will be prompted to enter a Bitcoin address where your winnings will be sent
(if you win, of course).
. After that BitBet will give you another Bitcoin address where you should send your bet.
. Please note that all addresses and all transactions will be listed on the contract page.
. As such, you should not send from any address that you would like to keep private.

For example, some unsavory exchanges and online wallet sites will arbitrarily decide
what you may or may not do with your own Bitcoins, or whom you receive Bitcoins from.

These unsavory exchanges and online wallet operators may also well decide to cancel
your account if they determine that you are sending Bitcoin from your online wallet
to BitBet or that you are using your online wallet to receive winnings from BitBet.
This is currently possible because all Bitcoin addresses are visible on the contract pages.

Online wallets pretty much negate all that makes Bitcoin good: you aren't in control
of your funds anymore, you have no guarantee that the wallet operator won't keep your
money or disappear with it under cover of the night, and they will have a say on what
you can or can't do with your money. Some may even keep your funds if they decide
you aren't complying with their policies.

We are working on a solution to this problem (in the form of anonymous user accounts), but
until we implement this, please avoid using online wallets and exchanges like the plague.

In particular, please understand that:
. The beneficiary address of a bet will never be changed, under ANY circumstances.
. Please make absolutely sure you control the address you submit for winnings payouts!
. If you enter a payout address controlled by an exchange or an online wallet operator,
please understand that you may lose your funds, and that BitBet cannot be held responsible.

In summary, we strongly urge you to use your own wallet on your own computer, something
only you control.

Your bet is accepted once it shows up in the list displayed on each contract page.
This occurs automatically after the transaction containing your payment receives one
confirmation on the Bitcoin network.

There is little we can do to speed the Bitcoin network up. There is however a lot you
can do. Most importantly : include a reasonable transaction fee when sending your Bitcoin
transaction. Also useful : make sure your Bitcoin client is well connected (at least five
peers), to low latency peers.

Obviously, double spend transactions will never confirm at all, and will therefore never
appear on the contract page.

You do not need an account to use BitBet. Bitbet was in fact specifically designed
to make accounts irrelevant and unnecessary. For people who do not want their
addresses visible on the contract pages, we are exploring the idea of anonymous accounts
but those aren't available as of now.

Once a contract is resolved, after 24h payouts are sent. If you placed a bet on the
winning side, your winnings will be sent to the Bitcoin payout address you provided
when you placed the bet.

This address may be an online wallet, a Bitstamp wallet, etc (we do not recommend
this, but it is possible). Once again, when you provide this address, you should
make absolutely sure you enter an address you actually control.

Please note that all transactions will be listed on the contract page and will therefore
be visible to the whole word. Therefore, do not use an address that you would like to
keep private.

If the address you provided when placing the bet is controlled by someone else, like
for example an online wallet or an exchange, please read this entry of the FAQ:
How do I bet on an existing contract?

All contracts have a specified end time and date. At that time, the contract will be
closed automatically. In some circumstances contracts may be closed early, for example
if the contract has been definitely satisfied before the specified date.

For example, a contract on whether one BTC will be worth less than one LTC at any point
during the month of June would normally close early July. However, should one BTC be worth
less than one LTC on June 14th, the contract will close early, on June 14th.

All closed contracts will be resolved by BitBet moderators, with the resolution displayed
for public review for 24 hours. Any interested parties are welcome to bring any arguments
against the resolution during that interval. After 24 hours, the winners will be paid and
no further complaints will be considered. Please watch contracts you are interested in to
make sure no errors occur.

While we make every effort to keep delays at a minimum, the misbehaviour of third parties
on which contracts may rely for resolution is not something we can directly control.

BitBet will cancel contracts that can't stand, but will always attempt to award where an
actual controversy exists. You are well advised to consider the quality of the proposed
resolution source before proposing a new contract or making a bet on an existing contract.

The foregoing notwithstanding, BitBet will not hold contracts unresolved forever.

Every contract has two sides. Every bettor on the winning side will receive as follows :
98% of his original bet sum (2% goes to BitBet) plus 98% of his bet times the total
bet by the losing side multiplied by his bet's total weight and divided by the winning
side total weight.

The easiest way to think about fees is as follows : for all bets sent to BitBet, we will
apply a 2% fee prior to adding it to the contract. The net bet amount are then used for
all further calculations, be they for a win, a loss or a refund.

We are working on providing an offline calculator that people can use to indepedently
verify how winnings are calculated.

An important point to consider is that if the "plus" side of that calculation does not
exceed the 2% charged by BitBet it is possible to win less Bitcoins than the original bet.

For instance if someone bets 10`000 BTC and the losing side consists of 1 BTC only then
the 10`000 bettor will have lost 200 BTC in BitBet fees for a maximum upside of 1 BTC
(because obviously he can't win more than what the other people have bet).

The same applies for late bets, if the odds are even money (1:1) then a bet made at weight
1`000 or under is unlikely to walk away whole, even should it win. If the odds are 10:1 in
favour of the winning side that weight cutoff becomes 10`000. If the odds are 10:1 against
the winning side then that weight cutoff becomes 100.

As a general rule of thumb the sooner you bet, the more BTC you stand to gain.

Once you enter a receiving address and are given a send-to address, you have 3 days (72 hours)
to send your bet. If your bet does not make it within 72 hours then that address will be
reclaimed.

BitBet will be unable to send you your BTC back, as they will have probably been allocated to
someone else's bet! Always make sure that you send your first bet on a created address within
3 days (72 hours) of its creation.

Once you have sent your bet, that address becomes reserved for you, and will remain active
for the duration of the contract. You can subsequently send more Bitcoins in order to take
the same position, they will be added (at a new weight). This should save you significant
time if you are interacting with the site programmatically.

Do not send Bitcoin after betting on a contract has closed. Any Bitcoins sent to addresses
allocated to a bet after betting has closed will be kept by BitBet.

Contracts may indeed be cancelled, but only if BitBet judges that material changes make
the contract meaningless. Once a contract is cancelled all Bitcoins are refunded (minus
BitBet's fee) to the associated payout addresses,
not to the originating addresses.

Contracts will not be cancelled because it became impossible for one side to win - in such
cases, contracts are closed and paid early instead.

Contracts will not be cancelled simply at the request of a third party, and generally
BitBet will attempt to resolve rather than cancel any contracts that harbor a legitimate
controversy.

We do regulary review comments made for cases where contracts should be cancelled or
closed early.

Of course. Click on the "New Contract" link on top of the page. You will have to come up
with a "Title", a "Description", propose a "Resolution Date" and "Bet By" interval (number
of days before the Resolution Date) and select the proper "Category".

Next, a BitBet admin will review your proposed contract. If the contract is acceptable
as per our policies, the admin will establish the "Resolution Date" and "Bet By" interval
(which may or may not coincide with your suggestions) and your contract will be funded
and published on the site.

Your contract being funded means that BitBet will split a total pool of 0.1 BTC (or more)
between the two sides of your proposed contract. Your own address will be linked to the
smaller amount. This way you can earn Bitcoin by proposing interesting, worthwhile new
contracts.

There is, of course, no guarantee that BitBet will accept your contract. You can help with
this greatly by funding your contract yourself, but even so we will not accept contracts
that fall in the "Bad Contract" category.

First, statements that can not univocally be established as either true or false at a
certain point in the future are Bad Contracts and as such unacceptable on BitBet. For
instance, "God Exists" is a bad contract, because it can never be established
as either true or false.

Second, any contract that has to do with breaking the law (specifically: murder, but
also arson, theft, general destruction and mayhem) is a bad contract and is not allowed
on BitBet. For example, contracts such as:
"President Obama will be shot on December the 19th between 18:30:00 and 19:00:00 UTC",
"The Empire State building will burn to the ground sometime in June 2013",
"A crowd of at least five hundred protestors will not throw tomatoes at Nicole Kidman
during the Cannes Festival"
and so forth are all unacceptable.

Finally, contracts which are not really contracts but moreover advertising, advocacy,
general nonsense and such are unacceptable on BitBet.

Read your proposed contract. Is it clear, comprehensible and does it make sense?
Would you want to bet on this contract? Can you see yourself taking either side?
Is resolution going to be obvious once the resolution date comes?
If the answer to any of these three questions is "no", your contract likely would
benefit from some refining.

Placing a bet yourself at the time of the contract proposition (which is known as
a "zeroconf bet") also helps greatly.In some cases, "zeroconf betting" is actually
compulsory, specifically for sport contracts. Here are the rules:

1. Sport contracts will be only accepted by BitBet if they have a
zeroconf (initial wager) of no less than 0.25 BTC.

2. Sport contracts will have to specifically mention the GMT time the game in
question ends. Check if this time is accurate before you bet. BitBet will
refund late bets as of that time, irrespective of any considerations, which
includes the game being extended in any way for any reason.

3. Sport contracts will not be accepted more than two weeks before the event.

4. Sport contract will not have an end weight inferior to 10k. If the contract
proposal is submitted with a lower end weight BitBet will just use 10k.